Kirk Hinrich struggling with his shooting early on in the season – NBA News
The Chicago Bulls are a team fighting for survival without their All Star point guard and team leader, Derrick Rose. Rose tore his ACL in a first round playoff game against the Philadelphia 76ers last season, and has not played since. He is expected to be back sometime during the current season, and the team is looking to hang on long enough for him to come back and lead them into the playoffs. In the absence of Rose, a great deal of responsibility lies on the shoulders of Kirk Hinrich, the starting point guard replacing Rose in the starting five, but he is having troubles living up to the expectations placed on him.
Hinrich was acquired by the Bulls this past summer as the guy who would be taking the starting guard position in the absence of Rose, a difficult spot to take and play in. However, in the first few games that have been played so far, Hinrich has been struggling on the court, particularly with his shot making skills. Hinrich is leading the Bulls with 5.9 assists per game, but that is not a very high number considering that he is the primary play maker of the team. His scoring is also down and Nate Robinson, the reserve point guard for the Bulls, is outscoring him on almost every other game. And the biggest concern for the Bulls coaching staff is the fact that Hinrich is only shooting 29.2 percent from the field. However, Hinrich seems unfazed by his recent poor shooting form, saying that the sample size is too small.
"It's such a small sample size. Most games, I really don't know if I have it going or not because I'm taking so few shots. I'm not worried. I still feel like I'm shooting it good in practice. I wasn't as good with my floor game Saturday (against the Clippers); I had five turnovers. But I'm trying to do my best to run the team. Obviously I would like to make more. Right now, they're just not going in,” said Hinrich.
The Bulls Head Coach, Tom Thibodeau, also showed his confidence in his starting point guard and defended him by saying that he wanted Hinrich to play to his strengths.
"We just want him to run the team, play to his strengths. If they're helping off of him and he has an open shot, he'll shoot. I just want him to take the right shots,” said Thibodeau.
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